Christian, Muslim Relief Groups Launch Multi-Million Global Partnership

Two of the world's most recognised faith-based relief agencies signed a multi-million partnership agreement Tuesday, sending a message to the world that Christians and Muslims can work together to build a peaceful society.

|PIC1|The partnership between US-based United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and the UK-based Muslim Aid could result in some $15m in direct relief to disaster, war and conflict strife areas in the world, such as Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The estimated funds are in addition to the $9.8m already applied in Sri Lanka by the two groups for a total of $25m.

UMCOR hopes that the inter-faith partnership will present a new peace-building model based on cross-cultural understanding.

"We want to create a model for other religious and non-religious organisations to follow, to demonstrate that people of very different, and sometimes conflicting, backgrounds, faiths, and cultures can work together to help humanity," the Rev R Randy Day, General Secretary of Global Ministries, said in a statement.

Global Ministries is the parent organisation of UMCOR.

"The world desperately needs that kind of hope and this is a chance to create a new peace building paradigm," Day added.

UMCOR is the relief arm of the global 13 million member denomination of the United Methodist Church. It works in over 80 countries and since 2004 has received more than $170m in donations by church members to alleviate human suffering caused by war, poverty, conflict, and natural disasters.

UMCOR and Muslim Aid first worked together in Sri Lanka during the 2004 tsunami, providing emergency relief and later to civilians fleeing the internal fighting between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan military.

In Sri Lanka, UMCOR repaired houses and took care of reconstruction costs for refugees returning home, while Muslim Aid cleaned wells and provided livelihood projects for the residents.

"We worked side-by-side in Sri Lanka, identifying local partners for materials distribution and solving problems that cropped up in the predominantly Muslim town of Mutur. Our shared success has led us to this new ground-breaking partnership," Day shared.

The Christian-Muslim partnership comes at a time when news of sectarian violence has been high in countries such as Iraq, Turkey, and Indonesia - the most populous Muslim nation in the world.

"Our partnership with UMCOR reaches out beyond our own religious communities to benefit people in need, no matter what their religious faith," Farooq Murad, chairman of Muslim Aid, said in a statement.

"Muslim Aid and UMCOR have already proven that we can work together and will continue to work to establish healthy, open communities where trust and faith can flourish," added Murad, whose organisation works in some 50 countries in the world.

The Chief Secretary of the British Treasury, Stephen Timms MP, was scheduled to host senior representatives from UMCOR and Muslim Aid at the House of Commons in London for the partnership agreement signing on Tuesday.